The kids of East Harlem in New York have something to look forward to this summer.
The NYC Strategic Alliance for Health, the Harvest Home Farmer’s Market and Transportation Alternatives plan to open up a new playground in Harlem on the East Side. The goal is to give kids in that area access to fun physical activities and educational programs (arts, health, nutrition, for example) during the summer. The PlayStreet is going to be located on E. 104th St between 2nd and 3rd avenue. The NYC Strategic Alliance for Health is being sponsored by many great organizations, including Union Settlement, NYC YMCA, Communities IMPACT Diabetes, New York Road Runners, and Grow NYC! However, they still need all the help they can get.
They are inviting you to the upcoming meeting taking place Wednesday, June 16th at 10 am, where you can give programming suggestions, develop a schedule activity, and go over the details of PlayStreet. The meeting will be located at the Union Settlement Association on 237 East 104th Street. To confirm your attendance please email garroyo@health.nyc.gov. We hope to see you there.
Here at WOYP? we think that this is a great opportunity to help kids grow and have fun in a productive way. We can’t wait to see the results.
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New York City schools are trying to change the way lunches are eaten.
Approximately 25 schools are taking an initiative. They vow that their kids will not only eat all organic goods but also grow the food in the soil. The program – Green Thumb – also offers workshops about nutrition for people of all ages. Sure, this might not be the first time schools have produced cafeteria lunches in their own backyards, but its never happened on such a large scale in such a big city.
Here at WOYP? we are participating with a new program focusing on child fitness and nutrition. The Highway to Health Festival and Youth Forum is a community dedicated to youth empowerment and making healthy choices. It will take place June 12, 2010 in P.S. 64 in The Bronx. The goal is to improve kids’ lifestyles and promote a healthy living among their peers. The event will showcase a youth led workshop, fitness activities, entertainment, cooking competitions, as well as fitness activities.
Everyone is invited, so we hope to see you there!
Please visit there website and register here.
Tenzin is planting a tree!
Maria Finn is probably among the coolest people you will ever hear of.
Why?
Because she has a book, named “A Little Piece of Earth,” which is possibly the cutest thing in the world. It teaches you how to garden and how something as seemingly trivial as soil could grow into something amazing. As if that weren’t enough, she even helped WOYP? create our own window garden. She knows just about everything about urban gardening, which is great because not many people in the city do. We even have an apple tree on our balcony! Our little friend, Tenzin who is only five years old – and is also the cutest thing in the world, helped and he basically planted an entire garden (with Maria’s help.) You should read this book if you want to turn your apartment/house into a miniature forest.
We told you this was cool.
Click here to see Maria’s blog.
These cookies were originally made at the Capri Bakery on East 116th street in NYC. Now you can bake them right at home!
So this is how you make them:
Directions-
Serving size is 20 cookies. Courtesy of The Go Green East Harlem Cookbook.
Apart from being probably the most amazing cookies you will ever eat, they’re also really healthy. So you could eat them guilt-free.
Healthy Schools Campaign and the National Farm to School Network have set up a competition for students across America. They were challenged to concoct a new and improved healthy school lunch. The will be lasts for two days, from May 17-19th. The competition is meant to encourage schools to promote real food, rather then the cheap and gross substitutes. The students with the most ideal school lunch – meaning healthy and tasty – win. The finalists include The Tohono O’odham Community Action Cooking Club, who gave an interview recently on their experiences with the contest.
When asked about their experience, they said,
…it’s not only creating a healthy meal, it’s creating a healthy community. To show that healthy food tastes good. It’s our traditional way to be healthy and we need to get back to that with our traditional foods.
We think they’re doing a great job, and look forward to seeing the schools make positive change in the lunchroom.
Little Chefs
Hey, Internet, so this week we’re celebrating School Nutrition Professional Week. You’re supposed show you cafeteria staff at school how much you appreciate them. Here are some tips we got from School Nutrition:
1. Be polite in line and give the professionals a special greeting. Please, thank you and a smile can go along way in making someone’s day.
2. Recognize your School Nutrition Professionals’ achievements during morning announcements or even during a special segment.
3. Ask the student government or another student group to help out in the cafeteria by cleaning tables, taking out trash, sweeping floors, etc.
4. Introduce your staff during the lunch period and prepare the students ahead of time to give them a standing ovation and a huge round of applause.
5. Arrange with your principal to have the teachers and their classes write notes of appreciation to your staff. Post them in the cafeteria for the customers to read.
Another cool idea would be interviewing the cafeteria staff about how they feel about school lunch. Here are some of our own ideas of things you could ask, also found in the WOYP? Curriculum guide:
1. How many meals are prepared each day?
2. What are the common items ordered?
3. How are the meals prepared?
4. How do you decide how much food and what foods to purchase?
5. Where does the food come from?
Feel free to make up your own questions as well!
You should also ask the staff if you could “tour” the lunchroom, while you’re at it. Keep notes on what you observe. For example, what kind of kitchen equipment does the lunchroom have? Do they use stoves or microwaves? Do they keep the nutritional facts? What ingredients are most commonly used?
Don’t forget to check out the WOYP? video clip, with our own school nutrition professional, Head Dietician Jackie Vargas!
Spring is coming, and Caprese Salad is a traditional spring Italian dish. This recipe is from the big celebration meal at the end of the movie and it’s simple, healthy, and easy to make.
Caprese Salad (x 10)
Americans want healthy school lunches and they want them now. Both a study administered by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a report written by ex-military leaders are advocating for school lunch reforms.
A recent survey conducted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation concludes that people in America are unhappy with their children’s school lunches. Sixty three percent of parents of school-aged kids described the school lunches in their local school as “poor,” or at best, “fair.” School lunches normally serve tater tots, corn dogs, pizza, and chicken nuggets several times a week, all of which are high in sodium and fats. The study shows that 70% of all Americans want pizza served in school lunches once a week or not at all, and over 60% would want chicken nuggets and hamburgers served once a week or not at all.
Parents of school-aged kids aren’t the only ones who want change. Retired military officers also came out with a report, titled “Too Fat To Fight: Retired Military Leaders Want Junk Food Out of America’s Schools.” It reveals that in one decade (ending in 2008) the states that recorded over 40% of their youth as overweight or obese increased from only one, Kentucky, to a total of thirty-nine. The report also stated that 80% of all the overweight kids aged 10-15 years were obese by the time they were 25. Americans have increased their daily calorie intake by 250-300 calories.
These studies have recognized vending machines filled with junk food as the primary culprit. We hope that something is done fast about this issue, and that kids are offered healthy and nutritious lunches at schools.
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano and global warming link has been all over the Internet lately. People have been wondering whether if the volcano, that had wreaked so much havoc for airlines, will at least decrease carbon dioxide emissions.
As it so happens, the answer is yes, and no.
Technically, a strong enough volcano eruption could cool the earth, indirectly. Sulfur dioxide is released during large volcanic eruptions, and when combined with water vapor it produces little particles that settle into the Earth’s stratosphere. These particles reflect the light, so the sun’s radiation bounces back before ever hitting the earth, inadvertently cooling the climate. Some researchers say this may eventually be the case with Eyjafjallajokull, although it hasn’t quite been strong enough yet.
So how is it helping reduce carbon dioxide emissions? This volcano eruption is emitting 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide a day. By comparison, airplanes traveling in Europe usually emit 340,000 tons daily. The travelers that normally would have been using airplanes were now using other means of transportation, whether it be through car, train, or even boat. Its not like all of Europe has stopped moving because of airplanes. Any five days of flight cancellations saves over1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Its been a total of seven days since the plane flights have halted.
Granted, the volcano may have wreaked havoc for the unsuspecting air travelers and lost the airline industry millions of dollars. However, it did give us an insight on global warming, and perhaps these theories with volcanoes could be applicable in the future. Scientists are still researching to find out.
